Lyon's painted walls: open-air museum Tony Garnier

Start: Tram line T2 stop at Jet d'Eau-Mendès France.
Please note! This walk is not entirely signposted.__

(S/E) From the tram stop along Avenue Berthelot, head East-South-East along the Cimetière de la Guillotière (cemetery) to the junction with Avenue Berthelot and Boulevard des États-Unis, which is also the tramline junction T2 and T4.

Note the "Tour de Babel" on the other side of the junction, which will be easier to see on the return journey.

Turn right along Boulevard des États-Unis and continue straight ahead, keeping to the right-hand sidewalk, until you reach the junction with Rue Paul Cazeneuve (street).

(1) Turn right for a few meters to discover "La cité idéale du Québec". Return to the road junction to cross the street, then turn right again, ignoring a street on the left and walk past "Les temps de la cité". Turn left on Rue Ludovic Arrachart, then left along Rue Joseph Chapelle. At this junction, notice "Les années 1900" and "Une cité industrielle". Continue to the next junction ("La gare des voyageurs" and "Les services publics").

(2) Turn right onto Rue des Serpollières. At the next junction (on the left, "Les habitations en commun"), turn right onto Rue Émile Combes. At the T-junction ("The school" and "Inside the houses"), turn left into Rue Ludovic Arrachart. At the next crossroads ("La tour horloge"), turn left into Rue Théodore Lévigne.

(3) At the next junction ("Les usines" and "L'hôpital"), turn right at the corner of the park. At Rue Jean Sarrazin, turn left and cross Boulevard des États-Unis (note the large hall on the right, where the Saturday market is held). Continue straight ahead at the next crossroads.

At the junction with Rue Rochambeau ("La cité idéale d'Égypte"), turn left. At the crossroads, turn left between "La cité idéale du Mexique" and "La cité idéale de l'Inde". At the next junction ("La halle Tony Garner" and "L'hôpital Édouart-Herriot"), turn right into Rue Wakatsuki.

(4) At the junction with Rue Émile Combes ("Le stade de Gerland" and "La cité idéale de Russie"), turn right to take a detour to "La cité idéale de Côte-d'Ivoire".

Back at the junction, turn right into Rue Wakatsuki. Take Rue Joseph Chapelle ("La cité idéale des USA") and turn left onto Boulevard des États-Unis. Follow it to the right and continue straight ahead. At the crossroads with Rue Villon, note "La cité idéale de Chine" and continue straight ahead.

(5) Just before the junction with Avenue Berthelot, turn right towards "La Tour de Babel", then right again towards "La Tour de Babel du futur" (which looks strangely like the Musée de la Confluence). Join Avenue Berthelot and follow it to the left until you reach the T2 tramline stop, toward Perrache (S/E).

Start: Tram line T2 stop at Jet d'Eau-Mendès France.

Transport: From Perrache Tram line T2 (towards Saint-Priest-Bel Air) stop at Jet d'Eau-Mendès France.

Terrain: No difficulties on this urban route.

Alternative : Another walk exists, which has been unpublish because walkers where unhappy that the streets were so dirty, or that certain frescoes had disappeared, or been replaced by others. It's the principle of ephemeral art! If you're interested, follow this link
https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-murs...

Photo album here

During the inter-war period, Édouard Herriot, Mayor of Lyon, launched a large number of construction projects. People from the countryside and neighboring countries came to work in the city, crowding into precarious, insalubrious housing that was later replaced by low-cost collective housing made of clinker concrete.

The origins of the United States district date back to 1917. Edouard Herrio announced the creation of housing for factory workers between La Guillotière and Vénissieux: the first Habitations à Bon Marché (HBM). Tony Garnier, an architect awarded the Grand Prix de Rome, was chosen to coordinate this monumental undertaking. Construction began in 1920, and the first residents moved in in July 1933.

Rehabilitated between 1985 and 1997, the working-class district of the United States saw the birth of an original experiment in cultural development: from 1988 onwards, Citécréation® artists designed and created monumental paintings on its walls. This was the birth of the Musée Tony Garnier: a collection of 25 mural paintings, including 19 giant murals of Tony Ganier's works: the plans for his Cité Industrielle Socialiste drawn up at the turn of the century, the Edouard Herriot hospital, the abattoirs (which adjoined the Halle Tony Garnier) with the inauguration by Edouard Herriot and with Tony Garnier, the Lumière brothers, Jules Courmont and Laurent Bonnevay, the Gerland stadium, a wall with watercolors by Tony Garnier...

You can also admire 6 frescoes sponsored by UNESCO, designed by foreign artists, each representing their vision of the ideal city: Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, the United States, India, Mexico and Russia.

Numerous frescoes have been, and will be, created around the museum. If you're curious, this is a tour you'll want to adapt over time.

Choose a Saturday for this walk to take advantage of the superb multicultural market in the United States.